One of two watercolor sketches by American artist Samuel Wood Gaylor (1883-1957) today, found at Brimfield this summer; the dealer I bought them from had purchased a body of work by Gaylor and his wife Adelaide Lawson from a one time neighbor of the couple on Long Island. Rendered on very thin paper, clearly Gaylor was pleased with it, signing it at lower right, and it appears to have been taped up at some point, perhaps in his studio. Showing losses at the corners and some creases, as evident, I find it quite beautiful, regardless and perhaps all the more so for the wear, enhancing a sense of its object-hood as well as its delicacy. Emblematic of his watercolors of the period; there is lots out there about Gaylor and his work (which was included in the 1913 Armory Show, critical in establishing American Modernism), including a wonderful, expansive 2021 review by Roberta Smith for the NY Times about a solo exhibition of his large scale paintings at the Heckscher Museum in Huntington NY.
13" x 8". Creases, losses to edges; watercolor on very thin, tracing paper weight paper. Stable.
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